Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board v. Owen
Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board v. Owen
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, an agency of the State of Alabama, on October 4, 1973, after notice and hearing, suspended for six months
The appellant argues several assignments of error in brief, one of which we consider decisive of this appeal. Appellant says that the Madison County Circuit Court erred in denying the request for a change of venue from Madison County to Montgomery County.
In Tri-State Corp. v. State ex rel. Gal-lion, 272 Ala. 41, 128 So.2d 505, the State Conservation Department Director, the Governor of the State, and the chief of a division in the State Conservation Department were respondents, individually and in their representative capacities, in a suit to cancel a lease that had been entered into between these persons and a private corporation. The bill of complaint was brought in Montgomery County and it was contended that the venue was mislaid. The supreme court said:
“We think it is well established in Alabama, as well as elsewhere, that suits involving public officials are properly maintained in the county of their official residence. First National Bank of Linden v. Alston, 231 Ala. 348, 165 So. 241; State ex rel. Toberman v. Cook, 365 Mo. 274, 281 S.W.2d 777; Eck v. State Tax Commission, 204 Md. 245, 103 A.2d 850, 859, 48 A.L.R.2d 415, Annotation, Venue, Action Against Public Official.”
In the recent cases of Kelley v. Lingo, 280 Ala. 128, 190 So.2d 683; Ex parte State ex rel. Russell, 280 Ala. 448, 194 So.2d 851; and Dir. of Dept. of Public Safety v. Relford, 51 Ala.App. 456, 286 So.2d 860, it was held that the official residence of the State Director of Public Safety for suit purposes was Montgomery County, Alabama.
Title 29, Section 3, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, provides, in part, as follows:
“The office of the board shall be in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. The said board shall meet at such times within the city of Montgomery, Alabama, as the board shall determine . . . .”
We also find the following from 92 C.J.S. Venue § 115, p. 817:
“A governmental body is generally regarded as having its residence for purposes of venue in the county where its principal place of business is located, or in the place where its domicile is fixed by law. The state has been regarded for venue purposes as a resident of the county wherein its capítol is located.”
The Board is a State agency and its principal place of business is Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama. Title 29, Section 3, supra. And, the legislature has required that the meetings of the Board take place in the City of Montgomery which is in Montgomery County.
The hearing that led to the suspension of appellee’s wholesale beer license was held
For the error indicated, the judgment of the court is reversed and the cause remanded for the trial court to enter an order transferring the case to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ALABAMA ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL BOARD v. Evelyn Maureen A. OWEN, d/b/a S & S Distributing Company
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published